Glenelg may yield big Mars news. Notice by the color shadings in the photograph above how Glenelg rests as an intersection point for three quite distinct geological areas. Also notice that the word “Glenelg” is a palindrome (it reads the same forward and backward). It’s a place where the Rover will pass both on its way up to, and on its way back from, Mount Sharp. Here’s NASA from this past week:

“This drive really begins our journey toward the first major driving destination, Glenelg, and it’s nice to see some Martian soil on our wheels,” said mission manager Arthur Amador of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “The drive went beautifully, just as our rover planners designed it.”

Glenelg is a location where three types of terrain intersect. Curiosity’s science team chose it as a likely place to find a first rock target for drilling and analysis.

“We are on our way, though Glenelg is still many weeks away,” said Curiosity Project Scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.